Removable upholstery assembly



p 1966 A. J. TESTA REMOVABLE UPHOLSTERY ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 28, 1962 INVENTOR.

ANTHONY J. TESTA BY I find/17 ATTORNEYS April 26, 1966 A. J. TESTA REMOVABLE UPHOLSTERY ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 28, 1962 Fig. 5

R m m V m ANTHONY J. TESTA ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,248,147 REMOVABLE UPHOLSTERY ASSEMBLY Anthony J. Testa, 4510 Holiday Circle, Cleveland, Ohio Filed Mar. 28; 1962, Ser. No. 183,156 3 Claims. (Cl..297218) This invention relates to upholstered furniture and removable upholstery therefor. More particularly, this invention relates to furniture having upholstery that may be quickly removed and replaced and to a novel securing arr-angement for the upholstery.

Heretofore, a common method of removably attaching removable upholstery and slip covers to furniture has been to provide snap fastener elements on the furniture and on the upholstery. Another common method has been to provide tie strings on the furniture and upholstery. When snap fasteners were employed, the person covering the furniture with upholstery would often skip one of the fasteners in a series so that the cover would be applied more or less lopsided and the upholstery would be puckered in spots. Furthermore, upon continued use, the upholstery would tend to stretch and the snap fasteners would have to be relocated in order to restore the proper degree of tension to the upholstery. This is true even if the snap fasteners were placed on elastic tabs since these tabs, in time, tend to lose their resiliency. The snap fasteners also tended to become unsnapped under stress because of improper positioning of the mating elements on the furniture. When tie strings were used they were tedious to apply and would tend to become frayed and/ or knotted.

There are numerous instances where it is desirable to remove upholstery for cleaning or replacement. It is particularly desirable to provide furniture having removable upholstery .in hotels or other commercial establishments where furniture upholstery is subject to constant use. The upholstery, however, must not only be removable but it must be easily removable and replaceable so that these operations may be accomplished by one not familiar with the upholstery art. The upholstery must also fit the furniture and present a tailored appearance that is similar to non-removable upholstery.

The principal object of this invention is to provide furniture having removable upholstery that overcomes many of the disadvantages of the furniture of the prior art and that satisfies the above requirements for removable upholstery. 7

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel securing arrangement for the upholstery that will permit the upholstery to be easily removed and securely replaced. 1

The foregoing and various additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention, and an illustrative upholstered article embodying the invention will become apparent and more fully understood from the following detailed description of the invention, and from the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective viewed from the rear and one side of a chair in which a corner portion of a removable upholstery is unzipped and folded back to show a portion of the novel securing arrangement;

FIGURE 2 is a view in perspective, similar to FIG. 1, with the removable upholstery completely removed and with portions of the muslin covering; deck, and stuifing removed to show details of the construction of the chair;

FIGURE 3 is a back view of the chair shown in FIG. 1, with a portion of the upholstery broken away to show details of the securing arrangement and chair construction;

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the chair shown in FIG. 1 with a portion of the upholstery broken away to show detail-s of the securing arrangement and chair construction;

3,248,147 Patented Apr. 26, 1966 FIGURE 5 is a front view of the chair shown in FIG. 1 with a seat cushion in place on the deck of the chair;

FIGURE 6 is a bottom view of the chair shown in FIG. 1;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section through an arm and the back of the chair, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 7-7 in FIG. 3;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section through the back and deck of the chair, the plane of the section being indicated by line 88 in FIG. 3;

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section through an arm and the deck of the chair, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 99 in FIG. 4;

FIGURE 10 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken through the bottom of the chair, the plane of the section being indicated by the line 1010 in FIG. 5.

Referring to the drawings, a chair is illustrated having a back 10; a seat or deck 11; arms 12 and 13; a bottom 14; and legs 15, 16, 17, and 18. The rear legs 16 and 17 are extensions of vertical rear corner posts 19 and 20 as may be seen in FIG. 2. A back base board 21 extends horizontally between the rear corner posts as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 8. A back rail 22 extends horizontally between the rear corner posts 19 and 20. The back rail 22 is spaced above and is parallel to the back base board 21. A pair of vertical back studs 23 and 24 extend vertically from the back rail 22 and are inwardly spaced from and parallel to the corner posts 19 and 20. Spacing blocks 25 and 26 extend horizontally between the corner post 19 and the stud 23, and the corner post 20 and the stud 24, respectively. Each side of the chair is provided with side base boards 27 and 28 and with side rails 29 and 30.

The chair is originally covered with a sub-upholstery 31 which may be muslin or any other inexpensive fabric. The sides of the chair are sub-upholstered so that elongated horizontal side openings 32 and 33 are provided through the sides of the chair between the side rail 29 and the side base board 27, and between the side rail 30 and the side base board 28, respectively. The side openings are located slightly below the deck 11 of the chair. The back of the chair is sub-upholstered so that an elongated horizontal back opening 34 is provided through the back of the chair between the back base board 21 and the back rail 22, and so that elongated vertical back openings 35 and 36 are provided between the corner post 19 and the stud 23 and between the corner post 20 and the stud 24, respectively. The horizontal back opening 34 is located slightly below the deck 11 of the chair, coplanar with side openings 32 and 33. The vertical back openings 35 and 36 extend vertically from the back rail 22 to the spacing blocks 25 and 26,- respectively.

The removable upholstery, according to the present invention, is secured to the chair in the following manner.

A unitary removable upholstery cover 37 is provided which includes an outside back portion 38, an inside back portion 39, outside arm portions 40, inside arm portions 41, and a deck portion 42. The upholstery cover 37 may be fabricated from materials such as textiles, leather, and vinyl resins. As may be seen more clearly in FIGS. 1, 3, and 8, a plurality of elastic tabs 43 are aflixed at one end of the junction between the inside back portion 39 and the deck portion 42 of the cover 37. The tabs 43 are pulled through the horizontal back opening 34. V A plurality of elastic tabs 44 are similarly afiixed to the junctions between the inside arm portions 41 and the deck portion 42 of the cover 37 and are pulled through the horizontal side openings 32 and 33, as may be seen in FIGS. 1, 4, and 9. The vertical junctions between the inside back portion 39 and the inside arm portions 41 of the cover 37 are also provided with elastic tabs 45, as

may be seen in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7. The tabs 45 are pulled through thevertical back openings 35 and 36.

The extremities of the tabs 43, 44, and 45 are each provided with a locking strip 46. The locking strips 46 comprise short, stiff nylon loops extending from a fabric backing strip. The locking strips 46 releasably engage mating strips 47, which are tacked to the lower portion of the chair below the horizontal openings 32, 33, and 34, and, as is shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 7, are tacked to the side faces of the corner posts 19 and 20. The mating strips 47 comprise strips of felted fabric. When a locking strip 46 is pressed into engagement with a mating strip 47, the short, stilf nylon loops will mesh with the felted fabric and provide a strong bond between the strips. The strips 46 and 47 are available commercially under the name Velcro, a trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc.

After the elastic tabs 43, 44, and 45 are pulled through the openings 32, 33, and 34, the locking strips 46 attached to the tabs are pressed into locking engagement with the mating strips 47 at any desired location on the strips 47. Thus, the tension of the cover,37 may be adjusted by adjusting the relative position of the strips 46 and 47. As may be seen particularly in FIGS. 7, 8, and9, the mating strips are located on the side and back surfaces of the chair so that the strips 46 and 47 engage and lock in a plane that is parallel to the direction of the force exerted on the locking strip 46 by the stretched elastic tab attached to the locking strip 46.

The outside back portion 38- of the cover 37 is secured to the outside arm portions 40 by means of a zipper fastener 48, as is shown in FIGS. 1 and 7. The lower edges of the arm portions 40, the back portion 38, and the front lower edge of the deck portion 42 are provided with locking strips 46 which engage a mating strip 47 that extends around the periphery of the bottom 14 of the chair, as is shown in FIGS. 6 and 10.

The above described example of the invention may be varied Without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the invention is not limited to the chair construction illustrated, but is intended to embrace other forms of furniture within the scope of the appended claims. 7

What is claimed is:

1. A removable upholstery assembly comprising a piece of furniture having back, arm, and deck portions, means defining horizontal openings through said back and arm portions to said deck portion; means defining vertical openings through said back portion above said back opening; removable upholstery having anoutside back portion, an inside back portion, outside arm portions, inside arm portions, and a deck portion; a first set of tabs fixed at one end to said removable upholstery at a junction between said inside back portion and said deck portion, ex-

tending through said horizontal side openings and releasably secured to the outside arm portions of the furniture adjacent said side openings; and a third set of tabs fixed. at one end to said removable upholstery at junctions between said inside back portion and said inside arm portions, extending through saidvertical back openings, and

releasably secured to the outside arm portions of the furni ture adjacent said vertical back openings.

2. A removable upholstery assembly comprising a piece of :furniture having back, arm, and deck portions,

means defining horizontal openings through said back and arm portions to said deck portion; means defining vertical openings through said back portion above said back opening; felt mating strips fixed to said furniture on its outside surface adjacent said openings; removable upholstery hav-. ing an outside back portion, an inside back portion, outside:

arm portions, inside arm portions, and a deck portion; a first set of elastic tabs fixed at one end to said removable upholstery at a junction between said inside back portion and said deck portion and extending through said horizontal back openings; a second set of elastic tabs fixed at one end to said removable upholstery at junctions between said inside arm portions and said deck portion and extending through said horizontal side openings; a third set of elastic tabs fixed at one end to said removable upholstery at junctions between said inside back portion and said inside arm portions and extending through said vertical back openings; and a locking strip afiixed to the other end of each elastic tab and releasably engaging said felt mating strips, said locking strip comprising short, stilf nylon loops.

3. A piece of sub-upholstered furniture comprising a back, a deck transverse to said back, and a pair of arms on either side of said deck, means defining horizontal openings through said back and arms to said deck, means defining vertical openings through said back above said I back opening, and felt mating strips fixed to said furni- I ture on its outside surface adjacent said openings.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,531,047 11/ 1950 Holsinger 297-218 2,546,109 3/1951 Puchalsky 297-229 3,063,749 11/ 1962 Str-uble 297-220 3,066,323 12/1962 Kintner 5-334 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

3. A PIECE OF SUB-UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE COMPRISING A BACK, A DECK TRANSVERSE TO SAID BACK, AND A PAIR OF ARMS ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID DECK, MEANS DEFINING HORIZONTAL OPENINGS THROUGH SAID BACK AND ARMS TO SAID DECK, MEANS DEFINING VERTICAL OPENINGS THROUGH SAID BACK ABOVE SAID BACK OPENING, AND FELT MATING STRIPS FIXED TO SAID FURNITURE ON ITS OUTSIDE SURFACE ADJACENT SAID OPENINGS. 